


The Calm Before the Storm

by Musetotheworld



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Episode Fix-it, F/F, Mild Angst with a happy ending, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 08:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10918182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: She should have known things wouldn't stay the same, but Cat had never been able to shake the thought that she'd return to find Kara waiting for her.





	The Calm Before the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Started as a little thing inspired by that speech Cat gave to Kara, and turned into a "let's just fix that one little detail" type fic. Because we all need more Cat and less Daxamite, right?

Cat had faced more than her fair share of pain over the years. She'd lost people she loved, shut down her own emotions all to gain success that at the time seemed more important than anything else, given up more than anyone should ever have to all in order to get ahead. So no, she was no stranger to pain.

But there was something about returning to hear Kara talk so openly about the people she loved that pushed all of that pain out of Cat's mind. Suddenly, all of her previous pains seemed less than nothing in comparison to this. Cat had finally realized what she wanted, what she needed, and here Kara was, already moved on. Already out of reach. And that meant Cat was going to be just as alone as before. Just as lonely, just as unhappy.

God, how had she ever thought she could just come back and find Kara waiting for her? Cat wasn't a hopeful woman as a rule, she was far too pragmatic about the world for that. But somehow, in the years that Kara had always been there, Cat had begun to think that maybe she always would be. That even if Cat pushed her to grow, all she would have to do would be come back and things would fall into place, Kara waiting just as she always had.

But no, Cat had forgotten that things changed if you left them to grow. Nothing ever stayed the same, and Kara had deserved her shot at happiness. There's no way for Cat to blame her for that. Of course Kara had found someone to love, friends to support her. Of course she hadn't just stopped when Cat left to find what had been missing in her life.

And of course once Cat had realized what that was, it was too late.

So off she sends the Girl of Steel, watching her fly away yet again, and letting her hopes fly with her. A few guilty pleasures would be all she found now, a distant admiration of the suit that had finally grown on her, once she'd realized all the ways the cape could be repurposed for more creative uses. Everyone looked at a hero in awe, she could get away with that much, surely. And if she never got to hold Kara, never got to know what it felt like to have more with her, well then, that was Cat's fault to begin with and she'd just have to deal with it.

When Cat thought she was going to die, that she'd finally reached the end of a good run and at least gone down fighting, her last thought was of Kara. Of the things she wished she'd been able to say, the risks she wished she'd been able to take. There was so much time she'd wasted being afraid, and so many decisions she'd made because of that fear.

Once she's safe, she feels guilty that she hadn't thought about her sons, but she knows why. She had regrets there, but they hadn't been so immediate. She wasn't actively dwelling on them the way she had been the situation with Kara.

The last thing she had expected once the hero returned from the fight with her cousin was to be pulled into the tightest hug they'd shared yet, pressed so close together that Cat was momentarily unsure where Kara ended and she began. It was almost everything she could have wanted, if only there was more to it than just the friendship they'd built. If only Kara felt the same way about her.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Kara whispers into her hair, and Cat tightens her grip, as if to eliminate any lingering bit of space between them that might have lasted through Kara's grip. "I was so worried when I heard Rhea order them to target you."

"Well, you can't be the only one taking risks," Cat says with a weak attempt at deflection, her restraint weakening in the face of the clear emotion in Kara's voice. "It's the end of the world, Supergirl, we all have to stand up and fight."

"I know," Kara says as she pulls back, not letting go of Cat completely but leaning her torso far enough back to look Cat in the eye. "But I still worried. And all I could think about was ending this fight before they had a chance to hurt you."

"Oh, I was fine," Cat says, pushing down the hope that's struggling to rise in her chest, knowing that she's lost her chance at this. She's just hearing what she wants to hear now, reading too much into what Kara is saying. The girl had made her choice, she had those others that she loved, the ones she'd chosen when Cat had left her. And that was just the way it had to be. "You should know by now, no one gets rid of Cat Grant that easily."

Kara nods, looking scared, and one of Cat's hands rises from where it had been resting on the hero's bicep to gently cradle her cheek. She hadn't thought about the action before moving, hadn't considered what it might look like, or how strong the longing in her chest would grow, but now that she's touching Kara this way, she can't pull back. Not when Kara is looking at her with those soft, caring eyes, not when Cat can almost pretend that the look they hold is the same love she feels herself.

"If anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do," Kara says, so quietly that Cat is half reading her lips despite the closeness still between them. "Cat, I can't lose you. I lost you once, to your search for happiness, and even just that almost broke me. I can't lose you for real."

Cat is leaning forward without thought as Kara speaks, leaning up and thanking the fact that she'd happened to be wearing heels to this apocalypse as she does. It's been terribly uncomfortable so far, but in this moment she'd endure twice the struggles in order to have that much less distance to cross before her lips are on Kara's.

The kiss is brief before Cat is pulling back, ashamed of how she'd given into this weakness. Kara was taken, damnit. And her entire plan had been to deal with her own emotions from a distance, not put that burden on a hero already carrying far too heavy a load.

"Don't go," Kara says when Cat pulls back, though she lets her arms drop to her sides as if reluctant to place any hold on Cat at all if leaving is what she truly wants to do. "Please, Cat. Please don't leave me again."

"What else can I do?" Cat whispers, not even trying to hide her turmoil now. She's already given enough away, it's not like she can fool her now. "You love them, you chose them. And I should have respected that, I should have respected your choice."

"What if I want to make a new choice?" Kara asks, and Cat looks up in surprise, sure she'd misheard. "What if I realized that I was making the wrong decision, that I was settling for something I should never have been happy with?"

"You don't mean that," Cat says, still afraid that this whole thing will turn out to be a misunderstanding, that Kara is saying something completely different than what Cat is hoping she means. "You're in shock over this whole situation. You just finished fighting your cousin, for god's sake. We shouldn't be having this conversation now."

"If we don't, then we won't have it at all," Kara says pleadingly, such a knowing look in her eyes that Cat wonders how she's even supposed to pretend that this isn't the woman who'd followed her around for three years, learning everything there was to know about her. "You'll run, you'll shut down, and I'll go back to making the wrong choices because they're all I have. And I don't want that, Cat. I want better than someone who will leave me in danger just because I tell him to. Who will only listen to me when it suits his needs, and not because it's the right thing to do. I want someone who pushes me, who sees me, someone who I think about in that last moment before I think I'm going to die. That's who I want, Cat. And that person? That's you."

This time when their lips meet Cat doesn't pull back, this time she doesn't even try to pretend that she wants anything other than this, than the way Kara pulls her closer, the way hands grasp tightly at clothing and cape and trace gently over what skin they can reach. It's the worst possible time for this, emotions are running too high, the world isn't even safe from annihilation yet, but Cat doesn't care. She can be responsible later, she can make Kara sit down so they can have a real conversation about this, but right now she can be selfish and take what Kara is offering.

Because Kara had thought of her in the face of death, and Cat had thought of Kara. That means something, no matter how Cat tries to spin it. In what could have been their last moments, they had both wanted this.

"I'm so glad you didn't walk away," Kara says when they part for air, pulling Cat back in for another hug. The sensation of Kara's arms around her is growing more familiar with every second, and Cat knows now that she'll do whatever it takes to have this as often as she possibly can. That human connection she'd been looking for? She'd found it here, in Kara's embrace. And this is all she needs.

"I don't think I'm strong enough to do that," Cat admits, unable to resist tilting her head slightly to place gentle kisses along the line of Kara's pulse. "You're like my sun, Kara. I don't think I could survive without you."

She wasn't expecting Kara to laugh at that, and Cat pulls back with a disgruntled look on her face as she waits for an explanation. It might not have been her best line after all, but it was hardly worth of a laughing reaction.

"No, I'm not laughing at you," Kara promises as soon as she sees the look on Cat's face, laughter dying off as she looks sheepish. "I was just trying to figure out how to tell you the truth about my identity. I was worried that if you knew, it might change things between us. Might make you reconsider."

"You're afraid I only want you for the cape," Cat says in realization, tracing her hands gently over the fabric in question. "Kara, you are so much more than this, so much more than the hero of the city. You know that, and I know that. I've always seen the hero in you, long before you put on that crest. You've always been someone amazing. The fact that you can fly doesn't add or take away from that fact. It's just a part of who you are."

Kara is smiling when Cat finishes, leaning down for a kiss that's almost chaste this time, more about sharing the emotions running between them than anything else. They've got time to deal with the changes between them, time to talk about what this means and where they go from here.

But right now, in this moment, this is all they need. They can wrap themselves in each other's arms, hold tight to hope and love and all the emotions a heart can hold, and find the strength needed to make it to that future.

It's a moment of peace, the calm before the storm, and that's all either of them could ever need.

 


End file.
